So, after clarifying my confusing clues (Alliteration! Yay for me!) from the last session, my players put it all together, and, eventually, invaded the Green Pattern Kingdom. I'm pleased with the way that the planning went, as they were able to keep focused, more or less, on the matter at hand, and kept themselves from wandering too far afield. Less than three hours into the game, they were actually in action.
The game had a strange sort of surreality to some of it. Julia, who had scouted out the Green Pattern Kingdom, wanted to brief everyone on what she had found. She gathered them all together, and Weyland went to invite Random to join them. Julia felt that Random should have some prior notice, so she Trumped Random to let him know he was going to have a visitor in a few moments.
What she told him was, "I've just got back from the Green Pattern Kingdom. Weyland is coming to get you. He'll be there is a minute or two."
Weyland arrived to find the doors to Random's chambers blocked by a full unit of guards, with weapons drawn, who informed him that Random would meet him in one hour in the audience chamber. Weyland was pretty non-plussed by this, considering he didn't know about the communication between Julia and Random, and was somewhat insulted by the behaviour of the guards.
Once our heroes were cleared of suspicion by Fiona, things got sorted out, but it was nice to see the feedback loop of reflexive paranoia working. It made me smile.
So, they stomped on the Green Pattern Kingdom. They put together a decent plan, and executed it well. They used everyone's skills to best advantage, and everyone got to do something. Jaeger, the Uberhound, was finally put to full use, so they didn't feel foolish about spending all those points on him. Brain Weasels made people's brains leak out their ears. Sorcerers used their spells to good effect. Warriors spilled blood. Two Elders were rescued from durance vile, and they got to witness them at their heroic best.
The confrontation with the Green Pattern at the end almost resulted in at least one death, as three of the five characters in the room opened themselves up to its influence, and then tried to defend it against their fellows. A bucket of Dragon's blood saved the day, sort of.
The storyline is over, and the characters have accomplished what they could, although they're not all happy with all the details. Prices were paid, and some ends dangle loosely, and Sinclair is convinced that they may have harmed the Unicorn Herself by destroying the Green Pattern. Of course, he's in the Amber Infirmary Burn Unit, after a close encounter with Draconic halitosis. All in all, I'm pleased with the way things ended.
The high point for me was the way everyone pulled things together to get the job done this session. It showed how the unified might of six godlike beings is truly a force to be reckoned with, even if the unifying part is really hard to maintain.
The low point was the choppy narration that I perpetrated during the final chase down to the Green Pattern room. The timing of it was not what I had intended it to be, and the effect was not what I had wanted, so I scrapped the experiment and went back to my normal form of description. I'll have to work on the technique a little more before I trot it out again.